Two Sources for Lucy v. Zehmer

Otto Stockmeyer posted a comment with a link to his post on Lucy v. Zehmer.  We give it a bit more prominence by re-posting it here.

For another take on the case, we recommend this episode of the Promises, Promises podcast.  I said I would recommend this podcast to my students, and now I can really do so.  The hosts, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan and Dave Hoffman, do a great job replicating what I hope law students will learn how to do.  Hoffman takes Zehmer’s side, while Wilkinson-Ryan takes Lucy’s, and they go after each other hammer and tong for a full half hour.  They tease and cajole; they make strong arguments and weak ones.  They dispute facts and characterizations of facts, and they concede when there are facts that are not great for their side of the argument.  In the end, they drop the facade and try to extract the rule from the case.  It’s an entertaining and enlightening role play.

Will Dave Hoffman persuade us that Lucy entrapped Zehmer with a pint of whiskey, a silver tongue, and a witness, or will he succumb to Tess Wilkinson-Ryan’s rope-a-dope strategy?  Did Zehmer seriously intend to sell his farm or was he all-in on a “long con” that was really just a joke that no sober person finds funny?  Tune in to find out.